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Obituary: Janet Kaplan

Janet Kaplan, of Longboat Key and formerly of Sarasota, died May 8. She was 96. Mrs. Kaplan was born July 30, 1915, in New York City, to Alfred and Ruby Jordan.

Mrs. Kaplan was educated at the Fashion Institute for Technology in New York City and worked as a successful fabric designer before her marriage to Leo Kaplan in 1936.

During and after her marriage, she turned to painting and then later to her great love, poetry. Mrs. Kaplan published 12 books of poetry; her 13th poetry book will be posthumously published in July. She was an active member of the National League of American Pen Women and an honorary member of Women Contemporary Artists, from which she received a lifetime membership in 2005.

She was married twice and is survived by former husbands Leo Kaplan and Clifford Richardson, whom she married in 1987. She is also survived by two sons, Peter and Paul; daughter, Debbie Anderson; five step-children; six grandchildren; three great-grandchildren; and companion, Allen Lentz.